Refrigerator.



No. 669,537.' Patented Mar. l2, I90I.

J. mcuAuo. REFRIGERATOR.

(Application filed Feb. 21, 1899.)

(No Model.)

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JOHN MICHAUD, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

REFRIGERATOR.

SEEQLFIGAZLEON forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 669,537, dated March12, 1901.

Application filed February 21, 1899. Serial No. 706,376. (No model Toall whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN MICHAUD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements inRefrigerators, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had therein to the accompanying drawings.

Myimprovements relate to means for maintaining a low temperature inrefrigerators withoutthe employment of ice, their objects being toenable the occupants of buildings to utilize their chimney-fines incombination with the refrigerator-placed upon a lower floor to keep alow temperature in the refrigerator during all or most of the year, andthus avoid the use of ice and the deleterious dampness attendant uponits use; and the invention consists in the specific combination andarrangement, as hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed outin the claims.

My invention is fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichFigure I is a vertical section of a refrigerator of my improvedconstruction combined with so much of a building, shown also in verticalsection, as is necessary to illustrate my invention. Fig. II is avertical section of a refrigerator, taken at right angles to the viewshown in Fig. I.

Referring to the drawings, 0 is a refrigerator provided with the usualracks and shelves for retaining household supplies and is shown locatedon the lower floor of a building be tween its walls B B, one of which isthe outer wall.

D is a pipe leading from the lower part of the refrigerator to. theouter air, extending, as shown, through the outer wall B to the outerair and covered Within the apartment by a felt, asbestos, or othernon-conducting packin Within the refrigerator, upon its inner wall, is adoor or valve m, movable to automatically open or close the part formedby inner end of pipe D.

E is a pipe leading from a point in the top of the refrigerator to afine F in one of the walls B.

G is a fan or blower interposed between the refrigerator and the wall,having the flue F on the pipe E, and which may be driven by electric orother convenient power.

The fine F is supposed to be the ordinary chimney-flue, and when therefrigerator is upon the lower floor of a tall buildingsuch as mosthotels are-a powerful draft will be caused to extend through therefrigerator, cool air being drawn therethrough from near the surface ofthe earth, and the services of a blower will not be needed; but where abuilding has not the desired altitude to cause a strong draft throughits chimney the fan may be employed as an auxiliary to produce therequired draft through the refrigerator. There is thus a constanttendency for the air to pass up flue F from the upper part of therefrigerator whenever the air conditions in the refrigerator permit airescape.

The refrigerator shown in Fig. I, out of pro portion to the size of thecompartment in a dwelling which would contain it, for the sake of betterillustration has ample space around it for a passage-way, and the room,which may be a living-room, may always have a temperature as high aswould be the case in such rooms without modifying the temperature withinthe refrigerator, so that the dampness and expense of ice may not onlybe avoided, but the refrigerator may be placed in apartments where icecould not well be dragged to be placed therein. To render a refrigeratorthus operated by an induced current of air effective, it would not beenough to depend upon an observance of the outdoor temperature, togetherwith normal means employed to cut off access of the outer air to theinterior of the refrigerator, as a sudden drop in temperature, liable tooccur over a large portion of the year, to below freezing would injurethe contents of the refrigerator, and to obviate which danger I combinewith the fresh-air pipe D a door m for closing its inner mouth andmechanism as follows for automaticallyoperating the door m when thetemperature within the refrigerator approaches the freezing-point.

his a contraction metal rod, as shown in Fig. II, with one end made fastat b to a side ofthe refrigerator and extended down the refrigeratorside in supports 0 c, in which it is free to slide in contracting. Thelower free end of rod h is hinged to the shorter end ofa lever y,extending at right angles to said rod. The lever y, hinged to the sideof the refrigerator, has a longer arm hinged to the bottom of a rod d,carried up the side of the refrigerator parallel to red It through thesupports 0 c in openings therein which allow it a longitudinal movement,and the slight lateral motion due to the vibration of lever y and therod d is hinged at its upper end near the fulcrum of a lever a. Theleverct, hinged to the side of the refrigerator and extending at rightangles to rod d, is hinged to rod (1 between its fulcrum and free end,so, as in case of lever y, a short movement at one end of the lever ismagnified many times at the other end, the result of which system ofcompound levers is that a short contraction of rod h imparts a swingover a large arc to the free end of lever a. The free end of lever a islinked by a rod 3 to the top of door m, sliding in ways over the mouthof pipe D. The rod h and system of levers are adjusted to cause thecontraction of rod 77/ to close the doorm just before 32 Fahrenheit isreached. All of the levers and rods are in the same plane, and theirprojection or relief from the side of the refrigerator is so small asnot to interfere with the capacit; of the refrigerator.

In Fig. I the section taken leaves out the View of the contracting rodand levers, which are believed to be shown clearly in Fig. II.

I am aware that the principle of expansion in metal rods and mercury hasbeen utilized to close valves and dampers when the temperature becametoo high, but believe the reverseor contraction of a metal rod asspecifically applied and combined with a refrigerator operated byinduced draft, as shown and described, is entirely new, as I am able tocombine it with one wall of the refrigerator to project only a fractionof an inch into the receptacle-space, Whereas all forms of thermostatsshown require a comparatively large space in depth for their workingparts.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim is l. Thewithin-described dry-air refrigerator com prising a receptacle 0,arranged upon the floor of a compartment in a building and removed fromthe walls thereof, a pipe D extended from 'the bottom of the receptaclethrough the compartment and through one of its walls to the outer air,and packed externally within the compartment, a chimneyflue F in onewall of the compartment and extended to the top of the building, a pipeE from the top of receptacle G forming a passage-way from the receptacleto the flue, a door m combined with the mouth of pipe D within thereceptacle and a thermostat combined with door m and comprising acontracting rod h secured to an inner wall of the receptacle and leversy, d and a operatively connected to rod 7?, and door m and adapted tolie in the same plane and fiat against one wall of the receptacle-allcombined and operat ing as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A refrigerator within the walls of a building, a pipe opening at oneend within the lower part of the refrigerator and at the other endwithoutthe outer wall of the building, a valve within the refrigeratorarranged to open or close the inner end of said pipe, athermallyoperated device within the refrigerator operating to close thevalve when the temperature falls below freezing, and aventilating-passage leading from the upper part of the refrigerator tothe outer air above the building, all combined substantially asdescribed.

JOHN MIOHAUD.

Witnesses:

R. F. HYDE, E. E. CASE.

